Thomas rowand



UNITED STATES PATEN Tf OFFICE.

THOMAS ROWAND, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

'FIDE-MILL.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known thatI, THOMAS ROWAND, of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful improvement on tide-water wheels and also in the mode of constructing, setting up, and applying wheels for operating in a current or by tide-water, the ebb and iow severally acting and causing the revolution of the wheel and the machinery thereto at-4 tached and that without altering the direc` tion of its motion; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and opera` tion of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, makingv a part of this specification and representing a perspective view of the wheel and apparatus placed in a channel.

.The nature of my invention consists, rst (though last described) in constructing the buckets or wings, marked F, F in the annexed drawing, upon the main or water wheel E so that after they have received the action of the current which turns the wheel they may return to be again acted upon without encountering back water; and second, in constructing and applying gates upon opposite sides of the wheel so that they may alternate with ebb and flow as guide waters to direct the current upon the wheel.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I place a water wheel, marked E in the drawing, with its shaft vertically in a channel or current or proper place where the ebb and the flow, or either at desire or any current may act upon it. The details of the construct-ion of the wheel I will presently set forth. In front of the wheel on one side of the channel, suppose for the sake of illustration, as in the annexed drawing, southward of the wheel and on the west side of. the channel, I construct a gate A of any appropriate material obliquely across the channel but extending only to about or slightly beyond the line of the center of the wheel shaft, not touching it however but allowing room for the free passage of the buckets. This gate may be prevented from coming too close' to the wheel by any of the checks usually employed by millwrights or mechanics for such purposes. Against this gate the tide at either its rising or 'falling 4,843, dated November 1o, 1846.

is to run and it will serve as a guide water' to turn or direct the current in the channely upon that portion of the wheel not sheltered by 1t.. The stream acting upon the buckets F, F causes this to revolve. Diagonally opposite to the rst gate (that is to sayin the" case suggested for illustration) to the northward of the wheel and on the east side of the channel I place vanother gateB opening in a contrary direction from the first mentioned gate and so that the water after pass` of the usual modes, upon the sides of the channel and adjust them so that while the up orthe down current of the stream runs against one gate, say A, and along it to the buckets of the wheel, it then opens the other .gate B for the escape of the water, by forc-vv ing it outward from the wheel and toward the side of the channel to which it is vhung or fixed, and keeps it opened until the change of tide which reverses the operationv closing that gate toward the wheel which before was open, and opening that from the wheel which before was closed toward it. Each gate serves in its turn according as the t-ide may be, the one of them at its ebb, the other at its flow as a guide water to direct the current upon the wheel. The adapt-ation of each gate to the side of the channel should be such as not to allow itto close entirely against the sides, but to leave it slightly inclined towardvt-he wheel so as to a-iford a hold for the tide at its change to act on the gate. By this improvement and machinery the tide acting in its ebb upon one side of the wheel and in its flow upon the other side, the direction in which this wheel turns is not changed but remains the same.

It is hardly necessary to say, but I may add, that I do not limit the position of the machinery by designating the sides by the points of the compass as I have done above and in the annexed drawing. has been adopted solely for the purpose of better explaining and illustrating my views and I claim to apply this invention generally and without any such limitation or restriction.

I construct the wheel with a cylindrical shaft. Buckets as usual in o-vershot, undershot and other water wheels may be at- This course tached to it, so that the water will turn the wheel. Such I do not claim to have invented.

Another construction of the wheel which may be advantageously used is as follows: The buckets or wings are made of wood or metal or any appropriate substance and in lieu of being iiXed and permanent as is usually the case, consists of a surface or plane either level or somewhat curved or concave turning or working upon a hinge at C in the annexed drawing, or any other of the ordinary devices at the part where it is connected with the body of the cylinder or shaft E and checked by one or more chains, jointed rods or flexible cords of any suitable material, D, from being thrown too far open by the passing current. The one end, I-I, of the chain, rod or flexible check is securely fastened to the flap or plane forming the bucket, and the other end of it, Gr, to the shaft or cylinder or main body of the wheel. The length of this chain or check may be varied at the operators pleasure and will regulate the degree of opening of the bucket; after the passing current ceases to keep each successive bucket open, it passes into the dead water and in continuing the revolution remains closed or nearly so until after again passing the gate which the tide keeeps toward the wheel when the current again distends and propels it. The breadth of the plane or wing for forming the bucket, its thickness, height, number of chains, checks or fastenings may be varied according` to the circumstances of each particular case where the wheel is to be used. Any machinery for any purpose may be geared to or moved by the wheel in any of the ordinary modes employed :tor applying power from rotatory wheels. lThis wheel may be used where expedient without the rgates or in some cases with one glide or guide water either iiXed or movable.

I do not claim to have invented the adaptation of a gate for turning the water upon the wheels, but what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The construction and adaptation of the two gates in the mode specied alternating with, and successively acted upon by the tides, in combination with a wheel as described, so that either the ebb or flow will lind one o the gates which serves as a guide water toward the wheel without changing the direction of motion of the latter.

THOMAS ROWAND.

lVitnesses Y HORACE MANN, CON s'rAN'r GUILLoU. 

